Calleary’s Government jet travels cost €34,000

THE Government made no effort to seek a pairing arrangement with the opposition before deciding to use the jet to allow a junior minister attend a Dáil vote, Fine Gael said last night.

After controversy arose over the use of the jet by Dara Calleary, the junior enterprise minister said he would have used a commercial flight if Fine Gael had granted him a pair for the Dáil vote on holding the three by-elections on September 29.

Instead, he stayed in the Dáil for the late-night vote before using the Government jet to get to Brussels that night for a meeting of EU finance ministers the following morning, at a cost of €9,000 to the taxpayer.